Category: Uncategorized

The last 8 weeks have been extremely overwhelming but undoubtedly an extremely learning experience and opened my world to Emerging Media which was limited to only social media till I explored more about IoT, Voice- Search Assistants, Wearable Technology to name a few. Today we have access to not just information but digital marketing tools that are convenient to use and can also support marketing to develop and implement creative plans based on the findings.

The research, discussions, writing assignments and the lessons led me to explore in detail some of the key aspects of Emerging Media which as a marketer I plan to consider and implement whenever possible while developing a marketing strategy. While all the different aspects are key in context to a successful 360-degree communication plan, but there are few areas which I may have overlooked before but intend to consciously consider in future. These are as follows :

Data Security & Data Privacy – Include more communication to the target audience on how as an organization, we intend to protect customer data and value them. At the same time, communicate clearly with transparent and easy to understand disclosure on how the customer will have opt-in and opt-out choices in receiving

Internet of Things– Explore different opportunities to take branding through the IoT route. Explore opportunities with Smart Cities, Smart Parks, Smart Shopping Malls, Smart Events, including business networking or conventions where B2B branding can be initiated through smart kiosks that help locate booths, events, or schedules etc.

Live Streaming – Live video streaming of webinars, events, product launches, user/ customer experiences, communication during crisis situations would play a key role in any communications strategy.

Voice- Search Enhanced Content – Content creation that is voice- search optimized along with local search enhanced through long tailed keywords. While in Business to Business communication, voice- search is yet to the momentum, however, the focus on content creation should be after a deep understanding of consumer pain points that they often come across, which in all likelihood is what the consumer is going to ask a voice- search assistant about.

Emerging Media Analytics – While a gamut of emerging media routes and channels can be incorporated into branding initiatives, but it is also important that how these routes are going to be measured for impact analysis forms a crucial part of the entire strategy. Clear impact analysis and measurement through several analytics tools have to be defined in the plan.

A huge thank you to my classmates and Professor Marisa for sharing their views, examples, and insights, which helped me embrace emerging media that today forms an integral part of any IMC strategy.

It has been predicted that small businesses will see a major push towards digital marketing and this shift would empower businesses to reach potential customers better than it has ever done. While small businesses may already have realized the need and moved towards web presence and social media, there is a considerable gap in having a mobile presence. Here’s why small businesses should consider mobile marketing – NOW!

The opportunity of appearing in mobile searches is higher in the local area when mobile users search for similar business. If the small business’s website or blog is mobile responsive – the chances of appearing in a search is higher. It is estimated that 97 percent of Internet users search for local good and services online, and 3 out of 4 people have found a business online and contacted them. This serves as a perfect lead generation.

Easy payment options through the use of mobile will enable potential customers to draw customers.

Small businesses cannot afford to miss out on reaching the huge potential consumer segment between the 16-35 yr old range.Social media presence through mobile-only platforms like Snapchat and Periscope can boost the branding to a huge extent. 41% of 18- to 34-year-olds use Snapchat, according to the company.while Periscope has 10 million registered users according to Teen Safe, that primarily targets the 16-24 yr old age group. And of course, this is besides the potential from other social media platforms which are accessed through mobile as well to a large extent.

Promotional push to sell strategies through mobile are more prone to attract customers than the traditional print coupon mailers in mailboxes. Consider this – how many times have you actually saved print coupons that land your mailbox and how many times have you used coupons you accessed from your mobile? Statista predicted mobile coupon will see 126.9 million users in 2016 vis a vis 112.5 mn users in 2014.You don’t want to lose out those opportunities!

Mobile Marketing for small business is not merely an enhancement but a must implementation to tap a market that is moving towards mobility at a speed we never predicted!

So you can officially log in to your Facebook account at work ! Facebook launched its business edition last month – Workplace, after an 18-month beta testing, and has been adopted by 1000 companies already.

Facebook has kept the pricing pretty reasonable (with 3 months free trial) with $3 per user for the first 1,000 active users followed by $2 per user for the next 9000 active users, and $1 for each additional user. Some of the key features include unlimited photo/file/ video storage, unlimited project group and team creation, live video streaming, secure collaboration between companies, integration with a number of identity providers for user authentication.

Source : Fortune

This seems to be a great platform for organizations to connect with their employees and an opportunity for internal branding, communications, and employee engagement. As employee engagement worldwide becomes a huge concern with organizations – with only 13% of employees being engaged worldwide, and 33% engaged employees in U.S., organizations continuously need to find ways to connect with their employees regularly. Workplace could be a useful platform for Human Resource, Talent Development, and Internal Communications teams, to host a slew of initiatives to gauge employee interest and engagement, besides the day to day functioning, organizing and collaborating.

Workplace, is simple to use, and the service is not connected to an employee’s personal Facebook account. Just like the regular Facebook page, Workplace has a news feed that features articles, updates, comments, that can be relevant to certain teams or even the whole company, the Live service can be used to live broadcast organizational announcements, and employees can form private groups and invite business partners (vendors / clients/ partners) who aren’t official employees.

It will be interesting to see how Workplace shapes up vis a vis Slack (who integrated with Salesforce) which has been a popular and successful platform for workplace and team collaboration.

When Instant Messaging first made its way through Yahoo and MSN, it was pretty unthinkable that someday humans would be on a train or the beach and share live updates! It has got the world closer more than we ever imagined and smaller too. News spreading like wildfire have been labeled “viral” and chats are not limited to IMs but video chats across time zones and continents.

That has been the power of Emerging Media which has continuously evolved with needs and innovation. With this growth and evolvement of media, it has become absolutely necessary for marketers to keep up the engagement level with their audience. Every minute there is a scope of communication, and there is a scope of purchasing decisions being influenced.

In a poll conducted by Smart Insights, some of the digital marketing techniques were identified which were considered crucial for businesses. The chart below shows the very interesting findings of the poll.

With so many avenues of the mode of communicating it will be fascinating to learn how to fit marketing needs and the various emerging media in an IMC campaign.